I am a Clinical Health Care Psychologist, a Dutchified Canadian, an ex-backpacker, a mother of two beautiful Dutch-Canadian young men.
Experience in giving individual and group therapy, training and teaching for professional development, and managing a child psychiatry unit, are among the qualifications that made people think I could do this job with MSF. But it’s my love of travel, of becoming immersed in different cultures and of helping people to grow and overcome difficulties, that are my real motivators.
This is my first mission with MSF and my first experience in helping to bring psychological and mental health support to a non-western society. I am based in relative luxury in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, to assist with MSF’s Pediatric MDR-TB [multidrug-resistant tuberculosis] project here. I come, thankfully, with the love and support of my two great sons and all my friends and family.
